Rumor: Intel in talks with Infineon about possible purchase of mobile chip business

Intel’s got a lot of engineers, making a lot of processors, but when it comes to advanced radio technology … the company is lacking. Yes, Intel did popularize WiFi with their brilliant Centrino marketing campaign back in the early and mid 00s, but the huge bet on the successor to WiFi, WiMAX, isn’t paying off as well as the company would have hoped. According to an article published on the German version of the Financial Times it is believed that Intel is in talks to acquire Infineon’s mobile related business.

Now what does Infeneon do? They make chips that let your iPhone and iPad connect to a wireless network. They make chips that let your BlackBerry take over your life. They make the modems that many manufacturers use in their devices, and it’s pretty obvious why Intel wants to purchase them. The future is connected devices, especially in the M2M (machine to machine) field, meaning Intel wants to do their best to have not only a processor inside everything that runs on electricity, but for it to connect to the network as well and transmit a whole host of data that can be utilized for any number of purposes.

Infineon and Intel are obviously not commenting on the report, but if the sale does happen … it’s going to be a pivotal moment in Intel’s history.